Many companies package items and/or groups of items together for a variety of purposes, such as e-commerce and mail-order companies that package items (e.g., books, CDs, apparel, food, etc.) to be shipped to fulfill orders from customers. Retailers, wholesalers, and other product distributors (which may collectively be referred to as distributors) typically maintain an inventory of various items that may be ordered by clients or customers. This inventory may be maintained and processed at a materials handling facility that may include, but is not limited to, one or more of: warehouses, distribution centers, cross-docking facilities, order fulfillment facilities, packaging facilities, shipping facilities, or other facilities or combinations of facilities for performing one or more functions of material (inventory) handling.
Materials handling facilities typically store inventory items in their own packaging and on shelves, pallets, or racks. Such packaging and inventory storage requires that the inventory items be moved between locations within the materials handling facility using human power or mechanical power (e.g., forklifts, carts, trollies). For example, when items are received into a materials handling facility they are often removed from a transportation unit, such as a truck, with mechanical power of a forklift. A human may then process the received items and physically move the items to a storage area, using human power or mechanical assistance. Likewise, when an item is ordered, a human and/or mechanical device must pick the item from inventory and transport the item to a packing station and/or shipping station.
While implementations are described herein by way of example, those skilled in the art will recognize that the implementations are not limited to the examples or drawings described. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit implementations to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including.” and “Includes” mean including, but not limited to.